Watch for the last yellow-legged meadowhawks hunting from sun-warmed rock walls, cement foundations, and gravel drives. This small, red-bodied skimmer is the only northern dragonfly to survive into November / Long-tailed weasels stay brown in the southern part of their range. Here, they are completing the change to winter white / Tree sparrows are arriving from the Arctic. Some will visit feeders all winter / Time to plant garlic – before the ground freezes

Meadow voles are still breeding / Cold weather will bring more and more birds to the feeder: mourning doves, downy and hairy woodpeckers, and chickadees, plus a few late migrants / Any reports of warblers at this time are likely to be of rare stragglers / Raccoons are settling into winter quarters – a hollow tree, woodchuck burrow, culvert, or abandoned building – and will live off accumulated fat until spring / Common and red throated loons are heading south

The year’s last litter of deer mice is on its own / You may be able to see brown trout spawning in the gravelly shallows of rivers / Look for flocks of snow buntings in open fields and pastures / Hairy and downy woodpeckers are excavating roosting holes to use on winter nights / The seed pods of columbine are upright, unlike last spring’s drooping flowers. The capsules have five teeth and a herringbone pattern of veins / Hares are all white by the end of November and praying for snow

Caterpillars of the cecropia moth, the largest moth in North America, spin huge, brown cocoons that incorporate the twigs of the host tree, weather to gray, and remain suspended all winter / As denning time approaches, this year’s male bear cubs weigh around 140 pounds and the females around 85 pounds / Birch seeds are scattering in the wind / Squirrels and bears rely on beechnuts. Grouse, turkey, wood duck, jays, chickadees, and woodpeckers also eat them